# Ever Heard of a Two Wheeled car?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 14, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650 "2010-11-14T17:55:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/21 "2010-11-15T10:23:21Z")
> [@tellyworth](#):
>
> My experience is limited to human powered bicycles.
>
> Will a motorcycle without a rider remain upright? If not, the effect you are describing is human.
yes they will stay upright for a considerable period of time depending on how fast they are going. I’ve seen videos before on youtube of this, where someone was attempting a trick, eg a wheelie, falls off the bike backwards and the bike stays upright for more than a 100 meters until it slows down and then it falls over.
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### Author:  [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/22 "2010-11-15T10:32:29Z")
Aha, found it. Checkout the clip at 1:48 in this compilation. A rider comes off a bike, and it wobbles but rights himself despite his weight pulling it to one side. He then manages (somehow) to get his leg back over the bike and remount it.
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqYf_TP5-18)
Motorbikes are inherently stable without user input once at speed, and the faster you go the more stable they are…every experienced rider knows this.
Note that in all the accidents in this video people are either attempting tricks or driving at extreme speed, you would never normally encounter anything like these in normal driving speeds on a motorbike.
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### Author:  [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/23 "2010-11-15T10:39:27Z")
Ah even better, same clip At 4:36 someone falls off the back of a bike while attempting to stand up on it, the bike stays up until it hits uneven dirt but even then it goes over two small hills and stays upright…
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqYf_TP5-18)
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/24 "2010-11-15T11:25:58Z")
> [@coremelt](#):
>
> As for airconditioning, LMAO… again you’ve never ridden a motorcycle, you don’t need Air Conditioning, in fact you need to wear warm clothes even on a sunny day due to the wind chill if you are driving as 80k+.
Not when it’s over 100° F. It’s still hot. Even with all that hot wind.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/25 "2010-11-15T12:42:46Z")
> [@coremelt](#):
>
> Can the same gyroscope that stabilises also be used for regenerative breaking?
>
> If not I don’t see the point of any of these designs, they’re all be heavier than a motorcycle with no advantages.
Energy efficiency. The coefficient of drag (Cd) is much greater in a motorcycle than in a low slung enclosed vehicle. Even at human powered speeds this is a very significant effect, hence the much greater speeds achievable by recumbent bicycles with fairing ([velomobiles](https://www.deferredprocrastination.co.uk/blog/2010/why-a-velomobile-speed/)) compared to upright bicycyles. Cd increases greatly at high speeds. (See the graph in the link.)
Driving in the rain.
Crash protection. Yes, you can get very significant crash protection. The current versions have roll bars built in.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/26 "2010-11-15T14:44:45Z")
> [@coremelt](#):
>
> Can you actually get any significant degree of crash protection on a gyrocar design?
> As for airconditioning, LMAO… again you’ve never ridden a motorcycle, you don’t need Air Conditioning, in fact you need to wear warm clothes even on a sunny day due to the wind chill if you are driving as 80k+
I read of an Ecomobile driver who crashed at a high rate of speed and walked away unscathed- the things are like kevlar eggs. As for AC- LMAO indeed, at the notion of motorcycles being comfortable on hot summer days. If riders wear full gear on hot days it isn’t to stay warm- it’s to keep the road from grinding their skin off if they leave the bike (while in motion).
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/27 "2010-11-15T15:53:08Z")
> [@74westy](#):
>
> [1961 Ford Gyron](http://www.carstyling.ru/en/car/1961_ford_gyron/)
About these gyro cars (the Gyron and the Gyrocar), were they designed to lean into turns at speed, or remain upright? It would be neat to have a vehicle that leans into turns like a motorcycle, but perfectly stable at low speeds (i.e. with enclosed cabin, with no need to put your legs down).
(Yes, I know there are leaning trikes out there, but a gyro-stabilized motorcycle may be more compact, and probably not much more complicated.)
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### Author:  [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/28 "2010-11-15T17:19:42Z")
The BMW C1? [C1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_C1) Pretty clever - a “safety cocoon” surrounding the driver/rider, 4-point harness to keep him/her in it and no helmet requirement. I saw a quite a few of them zipping through Hamburg when I lived there - you could wear a suit and tie, yet beat traffic.
Too dorky to catch on, but the idea wasn’t all bad.
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### Author:  [@AmunRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmunRa)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/29 "2010-11-15T19:45:23Z")
> [@OpalCat](#):
>
> Not when it’s over 100° F. It’s still hot. Even with all that hot wind.
And you can warm up quite a bit at stop lights in much lower temps too.
I love my bike, but to say that it is impossible to improve on existing motorcycles is just silly.
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### Author:  [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/30 "2010-11-15T20:11:21Z")
> [@74westy](#):
>
> [1961 Ford Gyron](http://www.carstyling.ru/en/car/1961_ford_gyron/)
If this thing didn’t sound like [George Jetson’s car](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdWswvLPdE0) I’m going to be very disappointed.
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### Author:  [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2010, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/31 "2010-11-16T07:24:15Z")
> [@AmunRa](#):
>
> And you can warm up quite a bit at stop lights in much lower temps too.
>
> I love my bike, but to say that it is impossible to improve on existing motorcycles is just silly.
sure they can be improved… for example all electric motorbikes, or regenerative breaking in the wheelhubs for example.
But putting a cage on and extra weight to stabilise the resulting vehicle are not improvements in my books.
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### Author:  [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2010, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/32 "2010-11-16T08:14:48Z")
> [@coremelt](#):
>
> This is called tank slap.
What would happen if you experienced tank slap while cornering? Or is that not possible?
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### Author:  [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2010, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-heard-of-a-two-wheeled-car/560650/33 "2010-11-16T08:57:40Z")
> [@Isamu](#):
>
> What would happen if you experienced tank slap while cornering? Or is that not possible?
I think it would depend entirely on how fast and how tight a corner. Check this video again, a tank slap is what causes his initial problem, and it seems like he is coming out of a corner but the bike continues to try and right itself, wobbling back and forth before it recovers.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fa0GmdSN4A)
Keep in mind tank slap is also never experienced in normal riding. It can be caused by hitting a large enough pothole at extreme speed causing the wheel to lock full to one side, or instability at extreme speed coming out of a corner. Eg plus 150 kph or faster I mean.
Sports bikes are specifically modeled and designed to avoid this happening. In 15 years of riding I experienced tank slap only once (that was enough)
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